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CoipghtN°__ J-i. 

COFVRIGHT DEPOSm 



THE TWILIGHT SOUL 



Edition limited to 1000 copies. 



No.. 



THE 

TWILIGHT SOUL 



BY 

GUSTAVE FREDERICK MERTINS 

Author of 

The Storm Signal, The Dregs and the Froth, 

A Watcher of the Skies 



MONTGOMERY, ALA. 

©fje Qaragon QrtSi 

1920 



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Copyright, 1920 
By Gustave Frederick Merlins 



OCT 25 1920 



TO 

$aul 

MY BROTHER 



— and the glance 
Of melancholy is a fearful gift. 

Byron — The Dream 



THE TWILIGHT SOUL 
PART ONE 



The Swinging Balance 

And they sit there, the judges and the judged, 
In either guise; and as each scans the rest — 
The face, the form, the virtues all arrayed— 
He smiles, and lo! his own scale gently sinks. 
Bowed 'neath the weight of worth. 

At Jules Baronne's in Angels' Street, 
They know no harbor-bar called Sin 

To shut the glad ship Pleasure out, 
To lock the sad ship Yearning in. 

At Jules Baronne's black tables stand 
Whereat the shuffling waiters find. 

In fellowship of frank desire, 
The figs and thistles of mankind. 



10 The Twilight Soul 

St. Peter's carillon rings sweet — 
Strung in the gothic tower high; 

Yet sweet too are the harp and flute 
Within the buvette hard thereby. 

But flute and harp and prayer and bell 
Have each their mockers in the town ; 

Himself each man sees marching up, 
And sees his neighbor marching down. 

Beneath each pair of busy eyes, 

The sniffing nose, the questioning lip : 

"What prayer then doth my neighbor pray? 
What thoughts are his? What drink doth 
sip?" 

O sorry game of who and what! 

O curling scorn; O falling tear! 
For all still stands His Sacrifice 

That crimsoned the Centurion's spear! 



TJw Twilight Soul 11 

Mine ears have heard in ahen tongues, 
In mine own tongue, the ancient cry: 

" 'Tis he!" Who sounds the sorrowing depths 
Of Judas': "Master! Is it I?" 

Into the dish we dip with Him 

And with each other, — hand by hand. 

What bootstrap climbing raised my worth? 
Who made you judge of all our band? 

O brother of the trenchant pen! 

My shadow feebly marks the shade. 
They say the ground-hog fears — (like you?) 

The mighty shadow he hath made. 

Now with the Arab on the sands, 

My stand, my prayer I here confess: 

Shoot! With the fittest arrow, shoot! 
May yom' own shadow ne'er grow less! 



12 The Twilight Soul 

Turn back the years to watch with me 

A wretched man with hastening feet — 
(Save for the Grace of God 'twas you 

Or I who entered Angels' Street.) 

***** 

The absinthe pallor on his face, 

Ragged and unshorn, he 
Begged that his craving might be fed. 

The coin of charity. 

" 'Twill rain!" he said, "for the mare-tailed 
clouds 

Hang low in the sky tonight. 
My coat is thin and the wind blows chill ; 

I came for the heat and light. 

"You drink! and I? May I join with you 

Or is it a coin instead? 
Ah! I thank you sir! Some raw absinthe! 

God's blessings on your head ! 



The Twilight Soul 13 

"Where do I live and who am I? 

Dost know where Reverdi lies ? 
In ruins, ivy-wrapped, she lifts 

Her turrets to the skies. 

^■'The imps of Hell reign there by night, 

The bats and I by day ; 
The grounds are matted wilderness; 

The castle reeks decay. 

"My brain is fired with too much drink? 

Perhaps your words are true. 
Ask of the folk who dwell there 'round, 

And find who'll go with you ! 

"I fear not man that walks the Earth, 
Nor imps from a thousand Hells ; 

He laughs at sheer damnation who 
In old Reverdi dwells. 



14 The Twilight Soul 

"In long, long lines they pass me by; 

In red and gold and green ; 
Two heads go noiseless down the hall, 

Thumping a corpse between. 

"A something cold flits past your face ; 

A scream comes creeping by; 
A dead man wakes on your knee and groans ; 

You can place your hand on a sigh. 

" 'Tis true I feared, as men do fear, 

Till once on a Winter's day, 
I drank this stuff till its devils came 

And chased those fiends away. 

"Ah! 'Twas a fight, and a royal fight. 

For I went to Reverdi dark. 
And I turned them loose on the fiends inside, 

And they fought them, spark for spark. 



The Twilight Soul 15 

"They fought with fire and scream and groan, 

Till the Devil's banner fell, 
For the fiends that steal man's soul from God, 

Outmatch the imps of Hell. 

"Oh ! I shouted long, and loud I laughed, 

For unleashed by my side, 
Sat Absinthe's best, a guard for me, 

In his green and mottled hide. 

"And when the fight was nobly won, 

I whistled them in again; 
They wait my call; sometimes they turn, 

And shift across my brain. 

"Another? Yes, some absinthe please! 

Sometimes they wander wide, 
But he stays by for company, 

In his green and mottled hide. 



16 The Twilight Soul 

"Dost know how one whose heart has bled. 
Who has nursed his sorrow long, 

Holds it more dear than hopes of joy. 
More sweet than a happy song? 

"So do I wave my devils out, 
And joyfully whistle them in; 

An uncrowned King, I feed my hosts 
With the pale-green draft of sin. 

"But hist! my friend; I know it well, 
That death, like a grinning clown. 

Will soon put an end to life's great show. 
And ring the curtain down. 

"And then, ah! then, — but I fear it not, — 
Though deep fore-damned of sin. 

Forgotten of God, I, the devil's own. 
With my hosts will be gathered in." 



The Ticilight Soul 17 

He paused as the rain swept through the door, 

For the keen wind whined a gale; 
He drank his draft with a steady hand, 

And then took up his tale. 

* * * 

"All under a soft and summer sky, 
Where the world droned on its way, 

The moon looked down o'er the drowsy town, 
And tracked the rippling bay. 

■" 'Twixt moon and sward, quite mournfully. 

The shadowy willows swung. 
And on the breeze, the orange trees 

Their spendthrift perfume flung. 

" 'Twas such a night, my friend, as you 

Or I might care to see. 
Were life the role, were joy the goal, 

And love's clean wings were free — 



18 The Twilight Soul 

"Were free to swing from a clean heart, 
Wing-lapped with Seraphim, 

Or nestle to some human love. 
For that it pleaseth Him. 

"For know ! The Lord God sits on high. 
And through His i^leasure's hands. 

He strains His children's joys and woes 
Like many-colored sands. 

"Like little things of flake or flame. 

Each circles to its nest; 
One soul cries loud: 'God pity me!' 

One praises, being blessed. 

"And so these million, million worlds, 
'These fireflies swTing in space. 

Do squint their shuttered lights astern, 
And race their endless race.^ — - 



The Twilight Soul 19 

"Their endless race, till with a thought 

He wafts them all away, 
To sleep, as tired children sleep, 

After the long, long day. 

"And you and I and all mankind, 

Shall reach the wicket-gate ; 
And unto each, as reads his scroll, 

Will God award his fate. 

"But lo! I wander! 'Twas a night 

When drowsy insects wheeled 
Their heavy flight through gloom and light, 

O'er city, park and field. 

"Among the oleanders slim, 

There stirred a nightingale — 
( Ah ! Flutist to the golden stars ! 

Thy brimming heart seems Music's grail!) 



20 The Twilight Soul 

"With lo-do-la and tri-li-lij 

In ecstacy of love he sang ; 
Then hushed, for sweeter than his song, 

A woman's laughter rang. 

"Along the moonlit path they came, — 

A beauteous thing was she ; 
And very worshiji filled his heart. 

Who bore her company. 

"A beauteous thing, — a holy thing; 

And why should this not be ? 
For the holiest thing in all God's world, 

Lives here in you and me. 

"Lives here when we God's laws do keep, 
Like the Host within the Pyx; 

But writhes within a form of sin, 
A living crucifix. 



The Twilight Soul 21 

"So when she came, sin-swept through prayer, 

Her heart sunlit with love, 
As fair a thing to walk the earth 

As woman's womb ere wove — 

"As fair as ever loved the world, 

Or knelt to God in prayer, 
He might in truth love God the more, 

Who worshipped truly there. 

"Thej^ paused upon a wall; it frowned 

Upon the town below ; 
And lingered there with ne'er a care, 

For they had no heart to go. 

" 'Come sing to me some wondrous song, 
That shall match this wondrous scene! 

'Twixt love and life and God's fair world. 
Weave the sweetest song between!' 



22 Th-e Twilight Soul 

"Neath the touch of her hand, swift flurried 
the notes, 

Like a shower of blossoms in June; 
She swept her guitar, — how sweet and how far ! 

Oh listen! the world's atune! 

"The air-waves came and sweet-laden sped 
Like bees, 'neath the smiling moon, 

Till wandering wide, in their ecstacy died ; — 
Oh listen ! the world's atune ! 

"The prelude sank, the sweet guitar 

Took on an humbler tone; 
Its notes might only murmur now 

Midst the glory of her own." 



The Tvcilight Soul 23 

Song. 

On an island green, in a lost, lost sea. 

Where the ships never come again, 
'Txcas told by the moon, one June, one June, 

There's a heart that is wrung with pain. 
He walks in the fairest land on earth. 

And he looks o'er a sailless sea; 
His eyes are as grey as a sad, sweet day. 

And he waits so wistfully. 

Oh! if I might go, with the moon but to show. 

And its path for my hurrying feet, 
I would find my day in those eyes of grey. 

And the world would be sweet, so sweet. 
Oh! if you could know in your wondrous land. 

As you yearn o'er the sailless sea — 
On the track of the moon, some June, some 
June, 

I'll be coming! Wait, wait for me! 



24 The Twilight Soul 

"As one who stands in some sweet dream, 

A little while he stood ; 
The melody went whispering off 

Into the whispering wood; 
It echoed round and circled round, 

But still they silent stood. 

"Deep in liis heart lay gracious rest. 
The like that joy doth bring. 

But on the fields of pensiveness 
He heard a whispering. 

"It rose, it grew within his dreams — 
Why were those eyes of grey? 

He mocked the fancy with a smile. 
And then began to play. 

" 'To you ! To you ! To no lost Love! 

To you dear heart, I sing ! 
From deepest heart to deepest heart, — 

Oh! list my worshiping!' " 



The Twilight Soul 25 

Song. 

When all the velvet meadows of the night 

Are spread with stars, like bright-eyed As- 
phodels; 
When love, hulf-shadowed, trembling over love. 

His story tells, his story tells; 
Oh, then 'tis sweet to shut it from the view. 

Forget the sparkling glory of the skies. 
To lose the world, and find a fairer tvorld. 

Within your eyes, within your gentle eyes. 

When grey-eyed Dawn creeps slowly to the 
West, 

And rosy 3Iorn stands smiling on the hills. 
Beneath her touch, her kiss, her kingdom wakes. 

With rapture fills, with rapture thrills. 
Her clouds are grey beside thy snowy breast; 

Beneath my kiss a clearer rose doth start — 
And oh! my kingdom, where I kneel a slave. 

Within your heart, tvithin your loving heart. 



26 The Twilight Soul 

"To woman's fancy, low I bow! 

What might within it lies! 
To lead with ruth, to lead with truth ; 

To lead with lures and lies ; 
In speed it sees but flagging steps ; 

With it, the tortoise flies. 

"It plays her low, it plays her high. 
Now sweet and sad, or strong, — 

It thunders through her tempest heart, 
It trembles into song. 

"When Fancy leads, how soft she treads 

Into our hearts' bleak rooml 
And the sweetness of her ways is like 

Some delicate perfume. 

"What woe ! what woe ! when wnds do blow, 

And we see 'neath sullen skies. 
The bare, bleak places of her soul 

In her cold and stony eyes! 



The Twilight Soul 27 

"He dreamed of love; she mused on things 

That her own song had brought ; 
And at the forge of woman's dreams, 

Her willful fancy wrought. 

"Her swift thoughts flew, vague visions grew 

To drift athwart her days ; 
From One to One the balance swung ; 

Her heart was in a haze. 

"From One whose eyes were black as night 

To One whose eyes were grey; 
'Tis hard to choose when One must lose 

In choosing either way! 

" 'Tis hard to choose when One must use 

The knife on One's own heart. 
And that one part may grow in strength. 

Cut clear the other part ! 



I 



28 The Twilight Soul 

"From One to One the balance swung, — 

Two loves lay at her feet; 
To be loved so, is sweet I know, 

The choosing, bitter-sweet. 

"To reach the hand to One may be 

To seal a place in Hell ; 
With One, Life might be such a song 

As sung by Israfel. 

" 'Twixt equal worth and equal birth j 

Stood Love with plummet line — ! 

i 

And Reason strained through unborn years, , 

To measure God's design. 

I 

"From One to One the balance swung; — i 

Beyond the lives of men, ■ 

Weak Reason circles in a mist, ; 

And must begin again. j 



The Twilight Soul 29 

"In peasant huts have kings been bom; 

The wit begets the fool; 
Each strain of blood in ebb and flood, 

Keeps the unerring rule. 

"What depths of grief the years may bring! 

What tides no man may stem! 
What smile or tear each coming year 

Holds hidden in her wem! 

"A fresh breeze stirred, some drowsy bird 

Piped at an old refrain, 
And the wind that followed one lone cloud, 

Told tales of coming rain. 

"She started quickly from her dream; 

Come ! Come ! We must away ! 
The hour is late and you must wait ! 

I ask but one more day. 



30 The Ticilight Soul 

"Adown the path they silent went; 

How sad it is to part, 
When a mist hath sHpped 'twixt love and hope, 

And fear tugs at the heart! 

"Out by the sighing pine tree dark, 

Out 'neath the yellow moon; 
Like a full-rigged ship, a cloud drove up, 

When it passed, the two were gone. 

"Were gone, for lo ! their feet had quit 

The pebble and the sward ; 
The birds, the trees, night's mysteries. 

Were left to keep their ward. 

"And yet and far, again he sang, 

So gently in her praise; 
Breathing his love, breathing his hope. 

Dreaming of knightly days." 



The Ticilight Soul 31 

Song. 

Dreaming of knightly days, — 

Castles grown old in story. 
Moated and towered they stand. 

Mellowed in ruin and glory; 
Rich in the fancies we weave from them. 

Truth spun through legendic maze. 
Gilds all their splendor and brightens their 
gloom. 

Dreaming of knightly days." 

Dreaming of knightly days, — 

Chivalry knew hut one duty. 
Honor and faith guided target and lance. 

Valor was favored by beauty. 
Sweetheart, all their glory brings not one re- 
gret. 

Though lost are the brave knightly ways, 
Yet their memory doth serve me, seeking more 
to deserve thee. 

Dreaming of knightly days. 



32 The Twilight Soul 

The strange man faltered in his tale, 
And bowed his head upon his hands. 

"Speak on! Speak on!" his host implored. 
"Your words are rich as golden sands." 

"His gold!" he muttered 'neath his breath. 

"Without his strength, my lips were mute; 
King Absinthe is the alchemist. 

And he hath found the Absolute." 

"For deeds are naught but minted dreams. 
Struck on the burnished houi-s that fly; 

The bartered blood of Christ still flows. 
Barabbas you ! Barabbas I ! 

" 'Twas not by corselet, casque and blade. 
That Caesar rose or Pompey fell. 

By dreams are Heaven's gates swung wide; 
'Tis minted dreams that people Hell. 



The Tzvilight Soul 33 

The rich man raised his jeweled hand; 

The beggar smiled and took the glass. 
"O King of Dreams ! From rags and want, 

Into th}^ wondrous realms I pass. 

"As one and one and one and one 

Of these bright drops of green 
Doth soothe the pulsing of my heart, 

Quick Fancy plays between. 

"And this my curse, to drink, to dream. 
And dreaming, murmur Hope's sweet name; 

To wake and stare at grim despair 

Who mocks me with a sword of flame. 

"He mocks me for my pallid face. 
He flouts me for my trembling hands. 

And all the while Doom's hour-glass, 
Keeps spilling out life's rainbow sands. 



34 The Twilight Soul 

"Man turns! ah God! alas! he turns 
Back to the glass that holds a dream, 

While Mercj' hurls the key to Grace 
Down into Hell's unfathomed stream 

"And sad it is, and strange it is, 

When God His wondrous love withholds, 
Man turns thus to his wickedness, 

And wraps him fondly in its folds. 

"And strange it is, and wise it is, 

That while men build with bricks of Sin, 

They rear heart-palaces of Right 
That they may never wander in 

"For as they go, — those lost, lost souls, — 
Down where the hell-horde swiftly streams, 

God, in His mercy, pities them. 

And paves their road with empty dreams. 



The Tttilight Soul 35 

"So now I shake my fetters strong, 
And in the jangling chains of Sin, 

Hear music sprung from Paradise 
Unto whose gates I may not win. 

" 'Tis lost, 'tis lost, 'tis wholly lost; 

I've reaped but Sin for Virtue sown; 
Not mine to cry so hopefully. 

Dear Lord! I bring Thee back Thine own!' 

"Ay! Less than empty handed I; 

My darnel once did semble wheat. 
How can I pray? How can I lay 

My cursed harvest at His feet ? 

"Yet what boots Good lest Gain be brought? 

I mind me of God's ancient rule ; 
Cast ^\'ide the seed and list the tale — 

The Single Talent and the Fool. 



36 The Twilight Soul 

"O King Absinthe, how soft your tread! 

How bright your realms! How free from 
care! 
But oh! what fearful tithes you take, 

And how we pay them unaware ! 

"So soft he came; thought spoke his name; 

I trod in woe's heart-breaking ring; 
Some demon loosed me from despair 

And whispered low: 'The King! The King!' 

"Green lay the cup ; I took it up ; 

From woe I strayed to woeless lands ; 
Yet sometimes when his spell doth lack, 

I dream his hands were Esau hands. 

"Still, in mj' dreams, my idle dreams. 

Engendered of this draft of sin. 
Clean as an arrow, through the fumes, 

A shaft of truth comes whizzing in. 



The Twilight Soul 37 

"With naught of dust or fly-strung web, 

Tales of the past lie in my store, 
Gems, whose lack-luster counterfeits 

Old toothless Legend mumbles o'er. 

"I seal this Truth! Reverdi knew 

In days of Crusades — Templar Days — 

The pomp and panoply of knights 

Who filled the whole world with amaze. 

"I seal this Truth! Yet bid ye know, 

'Tis but to mark the later tale 
Of those who wandered in the park 

And listened to the nightingale. 

"Of those who wandered down the path. 
And at the gate must needs to part ; 

He, with a doubting, hoping love, 

She, with a woman's doubtful heart. 



38 TJie Twilight Soul 

"And so I call as one who seeks 

A loved one in a distant hall. 
Ah! Wake and live brave knightly days! 

And hark and hear my call! 

"Ah! days that sleep, return again! 

In Fancy's bloom, in Legend's glow! 
Fair gardens of the golden past, 

Bud ye to Spring! to Summer blow! 

"Within my Soul; ay! deep within, 
Reborn, an ancient morning gleams! 

Ah ! knightly days ! Ye live again. 
For lo! the minstrel dreams." 

(End of Pakt One.) 



THE TWILIGHT SOUL. 
PART TWO 



The Legend of the Prayer. 

Name me no Star of Beauty! I have known 
The seeds from whence they sprany; the lavish hand 
That strewed the garden, bade me watch 
Their radiant growth. My name is Time. 

Kiss me no finger tips! Bid no adieus! 
The First' of Earth ore with me as the Last. 
Time changeth not, but smiling threads 
A living Rosary from mist to mist. 

"From Time's full hands I seize a toll, 

And from his Ancient Days, 
Unwrap the gathered folds of years; 

Dispel the sullen haze. 

"And clear and bright and autumn-sweet, 

Near as a yester-mom, 
I see the sunlight on the walls, 

I hear the bugle-horn. 



42 The Twilight Soul 

" 'Tis Manfred, faring forth to war 

In lands beyond the seas. 
And Lucia gave the Gonfalon 

That nods against the breeze. 

"And Lucia's fingers twined amid 

The sable of his hair. 
The while he knelt and bade adieu 

Upon Reverdi's stair. 

"For all Knights Templar then believed 
That Christendom was doomed 

Unless the Beauseant should float 
Where Christ had been entombed. 

"And so went Manfred, pure of heart — 
Knit with earth's strongest tie; 

For her to war, for her to spare, 
For her, if need, to die. 



The Twilight Soul 43 

"And so went Manfred, till the years 

Stole like a breath of shame, 
And whispered: 'He hath failed the Cross!' — 

Staining his knightly fame. 

"For silence builds for fools and knaves 

An answer as they will; 
And even death is stung with taunt. 

For that it lieth still. 

"And folded hands and bounden feet, 

And men in distant lands — 
These make for gallant archeries 

To name and fame brigands. 

"Such ghouls are they as find their prey- 
Creeping from friendly hill, — 

The whispered blame — the hinted shame. 
For that he lieth still. 



44 The Twilight Soul 

"Aud such was Ferri; — Prince, alas! 

Lord of a proud domain; 
Whose love was as the light o' love, 

Whose fame was as a stain. 

"But since this world hath lust of wealth, 
And lands lie next to lands. 

So find ye, with their fertile wits. 
These name and fame brigands. 

"And now to Jehan, old and grey, 

He spake in cunning wise; 
'Into what line shall thy line go, 

When Jehan fails and dies? 

" 'A prince am I ; a prince art thou; 

By joining mine and thine 
With script and seal in common weal, 

It were a kingly line. 



The Txdlight Soul 45 

" 'Give me thy maid! thy Lucia's hand, 

And crown thee with the crown! 
That when thy breath hath passed in death, 

To me it shall come down. 

" 'And let this wisdom be thine own! 

That future years shall sing, — 
Forgetting that thou wast a prince — 

Singing thou wast a king.' 

"In Jehan's eyes the lust of place 

Grew till the game was won; 
' 'Tis well!' he cried. 'Thine be the bride 

Ere sets the morrow's sun.' 

"But in his heart there came a pause, 

A dream of feast and troth ; 
Of one who fought in distant lands 

For Him of Sabbaoth. 



46 The Twilight Soul 

"Of one who fought with mace and lance, 

In valor long since tried, 
That heathen foot should quit the hill 

Where He was crucified. 

"But Ferri smiled. 'Hast heard,' he said, 
'How Manfred and his men. 

Have plighted faith with infidels, 
Each with a Saracen?' 

" 'How in his harem when the cool 

Of evening ends the day, 
His dusky wives on couch and couch. 

Teach dusky babes to play?' 

" 'How long ago with ready tongue, 

His Christ he did forswear, 
And kneeling at a Moslem shrine, 

Repeat a Moslem prayer?' 



The Twilight Soul 47 

"But Jehan raised repellant hand — 

'Though justify we may! 
The deed is mine, the deed is thine, 

Against the Judgment Day!' 

" 'So seek not with your cunning speech 

To ease my honor's pride, 
And justify with argument. 

What lust hath justified!' 

" 'For deep within my secret heart, — 

Walled by the Ancient Ten, 
There writhed a monstrous beast of wrong, 

Thy hand hath loosed for men,' 

"Ah, shade of Jezebel, I knew 

WTiere Naboth's vinej'ards lie, 
And Ahab's soul within my soul 

Wept with a bitter cry.' ' 



48 The Twilight Soul 

" 'I build with dreams on shifting dust 

A weak and passing plan; 
Yet Hell were empty, were it not 

That man is merely man.' 

" 'And Hell were empty were it not, 

That being this alone. 
He cloys his lusts in wanton waste 

And feeds his soul a stone.' 

" 'No need dark Belial hath to give 

The famed and unnamed Two; 
'Tis done, 'tis won, the web is spun. 

The vineyards lie to view!' " 

* * * 

"The scroll was writ; the seals were bit. 

With signets sunk beside; 
With all the line of descent fixed. 

And name and name supplied. 



The Twilight Soul 49 

"That night a wassail roused the halls, 

And in the mellow wine, 
A toast was raised to Jehan, — King, — 

To Ferri and his line. 

"But in her chamber, at a shrine, 

A pallid maiden lay; 
Too weak with anguish e'en to kneel. 

Too weak, ah, God! to pray. 

"But as the midnight hour arrove, 

She struggled to the shrine. 
And sought in prayer for guard and guide, 

In prayer for anodyne. 

"And thus she prayed, with clenched hands, 

In broken, bleeding words. 
(Ah! well I know, if Faith be true. 

That prayer became the Lord's.) 



50 The Twilight Soul 

Prayer. 

Boxved down! Bowed down! 

O'er such a little thing as love in life. 

Bowed down! 

In all the swing of xoorlds, in all the plan 

That Thou, dear Lord, hast made to be 

And move within Thy guide, — 

'Tis but a heart-beat and a quivering breath, 

A nothing, — save Thy will 

Should choose to bless and sanctify. 

And yet, dear Lord! and yet. 

There is a call, — the maiden's mother-call 

That guides her to her mate and bids her know 

Thy hand directed. 

'Tis not the face, the form, the birth, nor self's 

own will; 
It is the blessing, — though in lesser guise,— 
As when the Mother Mary raised her lids. 
And lifted up her hands, while Thou didst 

touch 



Th^ Twilight Soul 51 

Her longing with Thy thought and give the 

world 
A Christ, — and she, immaculate. 
Father of Men, and all the worlds where men 
Do live and die beneath Thy watch and care, 
I pray Thee, pray Thee, pray Thee from my 

heart! 
Let Mary plead! Let Mother Mary ask 
And intercede before Thy blessed throne. 
That Thou shauldst work Thy will on men 
And in the hearts of men to my desire 
In this- — my birthright under Thee. 
And Father! Father! Lowly bowed, I ask 
This prayer in humbleness. 
If it may be my heart hath sought amiss. 
And wandered from the path to reach a goal 
Unxvilled of Thee,— 
Then guide me with Thy light to know and 

feel 
Thy wish, and bid me folloxv. 



52 The Twilight Soul 

"The prayer had sped; she clutched the shrme, 

And opened wide her eyes, — 
For Legend tells, (like Holy Writ) 

Of wondrous mysteries. 

"It tells that through the sullen gloom. 

She heard a heavy tread. 
And clanking steel and iron heel 

Down through the hallway led. 

"The door was fast, but through it passed 

As though it were the wind, 
A form that opened not the door. 

Nor closed the door behind. 

"It came, it stood beside the shrine, 

Glowing with mellow light, — 
Each link of mail, each rivet-nail, 

Each silvered buckle bright. 



The Twilight Soul 53 

"And on its breast a blood-red cross, 
Proclaimed its knighthood brave; 

It was no thing of life at all, 
Nor yet had known the grave. 

"It was no thing to touch with hands; 

No eye but her's might see ; 
What thing it was, no man might name. 

Nor yet make inquiry. 

"But now it spake in gentle tones. 

And on her wondering ears. 
There fell the sweetest words of life : 

'My child! The Master hears!' 

"She closed her eyes and bowed her head; 

Her breath came fast and fast, — 
When, like a whisper, through the door, 

The Spirit Templar passed. 



54 The Twilight Soul 

"She heard no sound within the hall; 

She heard no clank of mail, 
But through the castle's galleries, 

There rose a stifled wail. 

"Again it came; again it came; 
Now loud and loud it rose; 
Now muffled, like a thing that dies 

With many dying throes." 

* * * 

"They found them there; the aged king 

Upon his oaken bed, 
With Ferri's dagger through his heart; 

No crown was on his head — 

"No crown was on his head because 

He was no longer king; 
For script and seal in common weal, 

Had wrought a woeful thing. — 



The Ttvilight Soul 55 

"For script and seal and name and name, 

And descent, all supplied, 
Had writ that Ferri should be king. 

When Jehan failed and died. 

"They found them there; — within a room. 

The blackened Ferri lay. 
With swollen face and starting eyes; 

Whose deed, no man might say. 

"No man might say; yet men did know 
The way was locked and barred, 

And in the hallway, — white as death, — 
A sentinel kept ward. 

"A sentinel who knew no thing, 

And could no thing reveal. 
He said: 'I heard a clanking sword; 

I heard an iron heel.' 



56 The Twilight Soul 

" 'I saw a blood-red Passion Cross; 

I saw no form beside ; 
It passed through Ferri's closed door, 

And Ferri shrieked and died.' 

" 'I saw no other thing at all, 

But as I knelt to pray, 
I knew a stained knight had gone 

Upon a fearful way.' 

" 'I knew the cup he drank inside. 
Held woes too deep for death. 

And that the least of all had been, 
The passing of his breath.' 

" 'I knew that far beyond the stars, 
Where dreadful gates unfold. 

Black, in the Book of Infamy, 
His name had been enrolled.' 



The Ttvilight Soul 57 

" 'I knew the blood-red Passion Cross 

Told how the Master died; 
And fainting fell I to the floor; 

I know no more beside.' " 

"The tale here endeth ; it is told 

That on the morrow morn, 
There woke without the castle walls, 

A single bugle-horn. 

"A single knight, a single squire, 

Of Manfred and his men, 
Returned from warring seven years 

With heathen Saracen. 

"And lo! 'twas Manfred, who had been 

The foremost of them all ; 
Whose foot had been the first to leap 

Within the broken wall. 



58 The Twilight Soul 

"Whose shield had turned a thousand darts. 
And dulled an hundred blades; 

Whose sword had sent an hundred souls 
Throuffh death to deathless shades. 



^o^ 



"Who, when the day was fully won, 

Had knelt on joyous knee, 
And humbly breathed a prayer of praise 

To Him of Galilee. 

"And so 'twas ended; when the horn 

Smote on her startled ears, 
To Lucia's heart there came the thought: 

'My Child, the Master hears !' 

"Quick through the hallway Lucia fled, 
And there on Manfred's breast, 

Within the iron of his arms, 
Her sobbing face sought rest. 



TJw Twilight Soul 59 

"A long caress; and eyes in eyes, 

Read of the kingdom won. 
Ah, turn ye ! Love hath sanctity ! 

I turn; the tale is done." 

* * * 

"The web creeps back, the curtain falls, 

And dust is laid on dust. 
And cycle after cycle adds 

Its moth and mould and rust. 

"Gone, gone is Manfred, Lucia gone. 

The gates of fancy close, 
And from the gardens of the past, 

I breathe no more the rose. 

"But gardens fair or gardens drear. 

Bloom now for me, for you; 
In life, in legend, dawn or dusk. 

We find the rose, the rue, 



60 The Twilight Soul 

"In rose, in rue, in rue, in rose, 
In laughter, smiles or tears, — 

O World, wag on ! wag on ! 'tis well ! 
He hears! The Master hears!" 



(End of Pakt Two.) 



THE TWILIGHT SOUL. 
PART THREE 



God Writes a Smile. 

Who art thou then, that thou maijest walk abroad 
Being dead so long? 
Hadst thou a gift to give 
That thou hast failed to render? 
Or rather hath some woe so stung thy soul 
That thou art sleepless in thy after-life 
And thus with constant foot must dog my worldly way? 
Turn thou to me! Alas! Turn back again! 
Thou art a Memory! 

"Oh! tempt me not!" the strange man cried, 

"To tell of later things; 
This world hath need of smiling lips; 

She sighs not, but she sings. 

"And free and careless is her song. 

Without or heart or thought ; 
Nor heeds she what her state hath cost, 

Nor who hath sold or bought. 



64 The Twilight Soul 

"And priest and poet, scribe and seer, 

Strum with the thinnest tune. 
Like crickets singing in the grass 

Upon a night in June. 

"But now and then, when some dread bolt 
Falls from God's mystic skies, 

They view the wreck and quaking moan. 
Their sudden sympathies. 

The rich man raised his hand and smiled. 

"Judge not the world!" said he; 
"The froth whereon they choose to feed. 

The dew that makes their glee. 

"For hearts there be, and here and there. 

On whom that bolt doth fall ; 
And sad eyes turn to earnest things, 

And sorrow stills the hall. 



The Twilight Soul 65 

"For these, and such as these, there lies 

Within a tale like thine. 
The soothing comfort of a hope, — 

A peace that is not mine. 

"For I have sung, as others sing. 
And played through wasteful days; 

My light, the phosphor light that tempts, 
And dies in darksome ways. 

"But in your words there glows a faith, 

A still and fadeless star. 
To guide the wanderer through the night, 

The ship across the bar. 

"For he who yearns with aching soul, 

And seeks with steadfast heart. 
May find his way through seas of doubt, 

And mark them with a chart." 



66 The Twilight Soul 

The strange man bowed. — "And peace be 
thine ! 

If in this later tale, 
Thou findest e'en a hand to guide, 

A light that may not fail. 

" 'Tis of the Three of whom I told 

When first our night began ; 
'Tis of the Two for whom the tale 

In greater fullness ran. 

■"For when he left her with the song 
Of 'Knightly Days' upon her ears. 

Some fiend of Hell turned back her thoughts 
And tempted her from other years. 

"She gazed upon Reverdi's gloom, 

For lo ! the answer rested there ; 
The tempter came and whispered of 

The miracle of Lucia's prayer. 



The Txcilight Soul 67 

"From One to One the balance s^viing, — 
A shaft of moonhght lit a tower; 

It was a sign ; it seemed to call ; 

The hour was- midnight's holy hour. 

"From One whose eyes were black as night 
To One whose eyes were grey — 

'Tis hard to choose when one must lose 
In choosing either way. 

" 'Tis hard to choose when one must use 

The knife on one's own heart, 
And that one part may grow in strength, 

Cut clear the other part. 

" 'Tis hard to choose when hearts refuse 
To halt the balance here or there; 

'Tis hard to choose when one may use 
The answer to a simple praj'er. 



68 The Twilight Soul 

"The moonlight died, the great park lay 
Wrajiped in its tempting mystery, 

And there beyond was certain truth 
And love and life and destiny. 

"She drew a breath, a long, deep breath; 

Care-free her heart; the die was cast; 
The rest was Fate's, and with a smile, 

Along the gloomy ways she passed. 

"The ivy shook upon the walls; 

The broken fountain, filled with weeds. 
Seemed peopled with a score of forms 

That rose to threaten evil deeds. 

"But still she smiled, and unafraid. 

Plunged through the doorway's heavy gloom 

And with the cheer her footfalls brought, 
She sought the door to Lucia's room. 



TJw Twilight Soul 69 

"The flooring creaked, the grey rats squeaked; 

She passed a heavy, earthen smell ; 
When suddenly upon her heart 

An awful, choking horror fell. 

"No lights before, no lights behind, 

But all about, a quaking fear. 
That soundless, rang the air with sounds 

Like sea-shells roaring in the ear. 

"She never knew, yet something drew 
Her wavering foot-steps till she felt 

That where the darkness grew more vast, 
There lay the room where Lucia knelt. 

"She stepped within the door and then — 
Far in the distance something fell; 

A chill wind swept the rotting halls; 
'Ah! Mother Mary! Grant thy spell! 



70 The Twilight Soul 

" 'Ah! Mother! Intercede, I pray!' 
She sank upon her trembHng knees ; 

The prayer had left her whirHng brain, 

And all her heart's blood seemed to freeze. 

"With sullen roar, the heavy door 
Boomed as it drove its latch in place; 

A wild storm fell upon the park; 

She rose — and something touched her face. 



o 



"Go tell! go tell! ye men who dwell 
Where danger often bids to die; 

What matter simple pain and death, 
The passing breath, the glazing eye? 

" 'Tis there God shows His mercy best, 
For even the hope-filled little child 

Who loses life when life is dear, 

Sighs, smiles, and then is reconciled. 



The Twilight Soul 71 

"Go tell! go tell! ye fiends of Hell! 

Know ye some doom that souls must try 
More dreadful than to die through fear 

And shriek at death, afraid to die? 

"Around, around, with whirring sound. 
Some screaming demon seemed to whirl, 

And Ferri's image waked to life. 
To die before the dying girl. 

"The stout door felt her pearly teeth, 
The high walls felt her frantic nails, 

A bounding, raving, foaming thing, 
Half drowned the dying Ferri's wails. 

"(Ah, blood of Christ that stained the Cross! 

Ah, God! Who willed that He should die!) 
How hard that white soul sought to soar, 

Yet found from Thee no leave to fly. 



72 The Twilight Soul 

"At last the wild storm quit the park; 

The drenched trees all silent stood ; 
The mysterj'^ of peace came down; 

Peace to her soul, peace in the wood. 

"Peace in the wood, save that the dawn 
Awoke a liquid piping there, 

Where some glad songster sang of life; 
So sweet it was, it seemed a prayer. 

"Yet not for her, oh! not for her! 

No morning lark against the sky, 
Singing to God with golden throat. 

Avails as doth a woman's sigh. 

"For she who washed His weary feet. 
And she who poured the Spikenard, 

Earned mercy for their kind on earth, 
The love and sympathy of God. 



The Twilight Soul 73 

"Yet must they go! Perchance 'tis best! 
From all earth's ills they find release; 
Still shines the sun, the glad bird sings — 

Singing of Peace." 

* * * 

"A drink! a drink! the black walls shrink! 

A dead face fills yon window pane! 
And wild throbs tell me that my heart, 

Lest spurred, will soon not beat again!" 

The green drink came ; it fed the flame 
That lighted courage in his breast; 
The face passed from the window glass, 

And peace seemed in his eyes to rest. 

* * ♦ 

" 'Twas but a day!" he murmured low, 
"When those who loved her found her 
there; 

The grey-eyed man, the black-eyed man. 
Stood with the mourners at her bier. 



74 The Twilight Soul 

"The grey-eyed man wept bitter tears; 

Ah! bitter tears were those he shed! 
The other stood like one adream. 

With quiet eyes he watched the dead. 

"With quiet eyes that showed no grief; 

One might have said the white lips smiled, 
The while he stared at all the pomp 

And wondered like a little child. 

"He wondered at the songs they sang; 

He marvelled at the organ's roll. 
And joined in mummery that asked 

Peace for her soul. 

"The hour passed, and when at last 

Her face was hid forevermore, 
The black-eyed man, with brows deep knit, 

Returned and stood within the door. 



The Twilight Soul 75 

"lie looked about; he heard no sound; 

He passed the inner doorway through. 
The twilight seemed a holy light, 

Tinted with dawn's first rosy hue. 

"For there the Crucifixion showed, 

Wrought in the farthest window panes, — 

The Crown of Thorns, the Bloody Sweat, — 
The Cross-Tree with its bloody stains. 

"And lo! the organ stirred again; 

Some master pressed its glossy keys. 
And through the threading of their tones, 

Wove sad, yet wondrous melodies. 

"And sad the voice of him who sang; 

But still he sang of hope and faith ; 
The faith that trusts forevermore. 

And trusts beyond the gates of death." 



76 The Twilight Soul 

Song. 

The Cathedral is still and the lights are all 

gone; 
Through the mullioned windows the moon- 

beaitis fall 
And the crucified Christ is outlined on the 

wall. 

When the service is done. 

Low murmurs, half heard 'mongst the col- 
umns of stone. 

Seem repeating the song that the worshipers 
sang. 

And the echoes that through the dark arches 
rang. 

And the organ's tone. 



The Twilight Soul TJ 

When the heart is all gloom and the lights 

are all gone. 
And the echoes of songs that were dear come 

again. 
And we pore o'er the lives and the passing of 

men. 

And are lone, very lone — 

Through the windows of Faith, Hope pours 

her soft ray. 
And Fancy quick fashions some heart-healing 

dream. 
For the face of Self -Sacrifice rests in its 

gleam— 

And behold! It is day. 



78 The Twilight Soul 

"The last sweet whispering chords had left the 
air, 
The last gleam of the dying day had fled, 
The white-faced priest whose hands had swept 
the keys, 
Breathed a long sigh and bowed his weary 
head. 

"He was so young, so beautiful withal, 

So melancholy-eyed, gentle in look and word, 
That many whispered: 'It was not the Book 
that drew; 
Some faithless loved one gave him to thf 
Lord.' 

"Sitting in gloom, his head bowed to the keys; 

Just to forget, he murmured prayer on 
prayer; 
When suddenly, far down the aisle. 

The wildest laughter broke the startled air. 



The Trvilight Soul 79 

"The priest sprang to his feet, but still the 
laughter came ; 
He crossed himself; no prayers of his 
availed. 
Then came the thought: ' 'Tis of the earth and 
man; 
The imps of Hell before that sign had 
quailed.' 

"He came and touched the laughing stranger 
on the arm ; 
He breathed a prayer to God to break the 
spell. 
The prayer was answered; when they passed 
without. 
The stranger reeling from him shrieked and 
fell. 



80 The Twilight Soul 

"Days followed days; the fever still burned 
on. 
Ah God! forgive them for the bitter ill they 
did! 
They strove with death, and after weeks of 
care, 
The clouded brain grew clear, and darkness 
left each lid. 

"Weeks followed weeks, empty and empty 
still; 
But oh ! the blinding grief that filled his days ! 
It would not mellow into sadness nor grow 
sweet ; 
But, like a thing alive, it grew and grew al- 
ways. 

"It would not die, nor did he seek its death; 
'Twas all he had of her, and yet, what pierced 
and stung. 
Was that she wavered to the last and placed 
him in the scale ; 
He never knew, how at the end, the fitful 
balance swung." 



The Twilight Soul 81 

Sad Eyes of Olden Days. 

Ah strange, strange world! And strange the 

hearts of men! 
For as the soft breeze whispers through the 

vines. 
And perfect peace seems man's and nature's 

mood. 
There comes a calling of the other days. 
Here where the loved one is, where faith and 

truth 
Look forth through beauty's eyes and beauty 

smiles — 
There comes a whisper and a throbbing pain 
From out the years gone by, sweeter than all. 
'Tis not caresses, 'tis not love and truth. 
For these things dwindle into memories; 
It is the careless wound that came long, long 

ago. 
And why it came, we ne'er could understand. 

This is eternal; rose and violet die; 
Happiness and laughter pass with yesterdays; 
But like a crippled child we seek that hour out. 
Loving its sad eyes best, and press it to our 

hearts. 



82 The Twilight Soul 

'Twas drink on drink, and drink on drink ; 

The rain storm died away, 
And distant cocks, with shrilling calls, 

Soon prophesied the day. 

The strange man sat with pallid face, 

"There was a man," said he, 
"Who drank through one cold, stormy night, 

In goodly company. 

"The green drinks passed, and fast and fast. 

He told a story true ; 
And those who listened, marveled much. 

And wondered how he knew. 

"They asked him if he knew the man 

Whom all these things befell; 
He answered: 'Friends, I tell the tale, 

But more, I cannot tell.' 



The Twilight Soul 83 

" 'A stone hath sealed the sepulcher, 

And there let honor pray, 
Till God's own angels give the truth, 

And roll the stone away.' " 

The rich man smiled, then started quick; 

The stranger gained his feet ; 
With ashen face and bulging eyes, 

He stared into the street. 

"Dost see yon form all draped in white 

That enters through the door? — 
The eyes that laugh, the lips that smile 

As sweetly as of yore? 

"Dost hear her speaking as she stands? 

Ah God ! I hear her say : — 
' 'Twas thee I loved, 'Tis thee I choose; 

I roll the stone away.' " 



84 The Twilight Soul 

A cry broke from his pallid lips; 

He raised a trembling hand . 
"The least of Earth, I thank Thee Lord! 

I know! I understand!" 

His hand fled to his heaving breast; 

He reeled into his chair. 
The rich man caught him as he fell, 

And lifting, held him there. 

A moment passed, his head fell back, 
He slipped from out his place, 

His pulse was still, his eyes were fixed, 
A smile was on his face. 

'Twas done, 'twas done, his course was run; 

His sad soul found release; 
But those who gathered, wondered how 

He smiled, as though at peace. 



The Twilight Soul 85 

They wondered how a godless man, 

With soul so long defiled. 
Could pass death's portals unafraid; 

But still he smiled and smiled. 

The rich man drove them from the place. 

"I am his friend!" said he. 
"He needs no more from any man 

The coin of charity. 

"For I, the one who read his soul 

Shall lay him 'neath the sod; 
And write a line : He was God's child ; 

His peace is made with God." 

He followed them into the street 

And stood there in the way. 
While shrilling cocks, like sentinels. 

Proclaimed approaching day. 



86 The Twilight Soul 

He stood there till the bitter tears 
Crept to his burning eyes, 

And thus he judged the man who died, 
And judged God's mysteries. 



"His was a twilight soul, and now 'tis gone. 
The light of morning, beckoning o'er the hill. 
The darkness of the ages past and gone, 
Warred in his will. 

"Truly a twilight soul; the cave man's blood, 
Is still the blood that courses through our 

hearts. 
And pulsed with only this, in vaunted strength. 

We play our parts. 

"From out the unborn aeons comes to some 
The forelight of Omniscience, — God's own 

Day; 
The cave man and the God Child storm and 

strive — 

Spirit with Clay. 



The Twilight Soul 87 

"Cursed by a madness no one understood; 
Cui'sed for their follies, wild and passionate. 
Despised of living men, some wrote undying 

songs — 

Stones name them Great. 

"Too soon for this ; the long, long, bitter years, 
Must sear and burn and purge and purify ; 
For those, foreseing light of that Blessed Day, 
Unblessed die. 

" 'Tis not the priest, who sits with placid hands, 
Telling his beads, his every thought addressed. 
To teach and live each principle and law. 
Ah! He is blessed! 

" 'Tis not the plodder in life's commonplace. 
Who guileless walks and knows not to deceive ; 
Who kneels apart, and praying, murmurs low : 
'Lord! I believe!' 



88 The Twilight Soul 

" 'Tis not the cold, clear brain, who calculates. 
And digs out knowledge in uncanny way ; 
And through whose veins a clammy ichor creeps 
To feed the clay. 

"In blood, in tears, in tyranny and woe; 
In God-like strength, in Hell's soul-rending 

thrall, — 
Each patterned after self — in dust and death 

God's giants fall. 

"For now and then that fo relight flashes 

here. 
And fires the brain of one within whose breast, 
The untamed j)assions of the forest man 

Rage with unrest. 



The Twilight Soul 89 

"For such as they, 'tis sad, and many die un- 

unknown. 
Mocked for their frailties. Men say: ' 'Tis 

strange ! 
BriUiant he was, but worthless; failed in all; 

Nor gained his range.' 

"Yet now and then, like some mad Dervish 

wild. 
There whirls across the market-place of Hfe, 
A gyved genius, filled with doubt and hope 

And hate and strife. 

"Soon sinks he down; the laughter quits his 

lips; 
The vanities are gone and in his face 
There creeps a fear and then a question comes 

To fill its place. 



90 The Twilight Soul 

" 'Tis birth and death and then — what after- 
ward — 
If anything? Is it the end to die?' 
In frantic mood he seeks Omniscience then — 
'Why God? Oh! why?' 

" 'Why hast Thou made me filled with fiery 

blood? 
Why hid Thy Will in mist? Is this the Mold 
Whereby our souls are shaped — some rambling 

tale 

A shepherd told?' 

" 'O, Great Jehovah! Light of all that is! 
Is this the Lamp by which my feet are led? 
And can'st Thou say 'twas clear, and judge 

and damn, 

When I am dead?' 



The TioiUyht Soul 91 

"The stars roll on; silence and silence still; 

God's answer lies beyond the dreadful sky; 

And lo! His broken-hearted child sobs in de- 
spair: 
'Why, God? Oh, why?' 

"There comes a pause, and then some quicker 

soul 
Of those who wander in life's placid throng. 
Lifts but a finger: 'Listen, men of earth! 

There wakes a song !' 

"Clear through the world, unwavering, sweet 

and high; 
Born of the forelight in a gyved clod; 
Born of his woe, there lifts an undying hymn 

Upward to God. 



92 The Twilight Soul 

"The harp is strung, and that poor, broken 

soul 
Sings on and on ; from theme to theme he goes. 
The master touch is his; his genius burns, 

For now — ^he knows. 

"The tale is told; in bitterness and grief, 
Each heart-throb from his soul sweet music 

wrings ; 
And still, for all the woe that he has known, 

He sweeter sings. 

"The tale is told ; and like yon silent form. 
Stripped of their woes at last they smiling lie. 
And this is death ; — they know, they know, nor 

wildly pray: — 

'Why, God? Oh, why?' 



The Ttiilight Soul 93 

"His was a twilight soul where night and day 
Strove in his heart. Mayhap the Darkness 

won. 
Yet who shall say? Who knows? Who knows? 

His hour is done. 

"O, Soul of mine! The fool alone is surel 
Yon sleeping heart men say held naught but 

vile. 
Who knows ? Who knows ? He was God's child 

and lol 

God writes a smile." 

The End. 



